Slump sparks a race to join religious cults

Slump sparks a race to join religious cults

The House of Commons in London is swamped in a scene from disaster movie Flood

The groups have seized on the slump as a way of finding new members.

They offer to solve their financial woes in return for their backing.

And some doom-watchers are even claiming the recession is a sign that the world will end in 2012.

They warn the year – which marks the end of the fabled Mayan “Long Count” calendar – will see the earth’s surface ­flooded.

The global economic crisis has been a huge boost to believers who claim it is evidence that ancient prophesies are ­unfolding.

They have also jumped on a new year earthquake “swarm” in the US, and the conflict in Gaza, as ­further signs the end is nigh.

One website is warning followers to watch out for a US-backed strike on Iran and a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan in the coming months.

Inform, a London School of Economics group monitoring cults, said: “A number of religious groups are paying particular attention to current events as possible ‘evidence’ of prophecies unfolding.

“It would appear that interest in 2012 as a date of prophetic significance is growing. Some religious groups see the recession as a means of reaching out to people and possibly gaining new members.

“We may see the offering of ­financial advice increase as the recession continues.

The newly-unemployed or those in financial strife might be more likely than others to join particular religious movements – those which claim to have solutions – for a number of reasons.

“Firstly the practical reason that they may suddenly find themselves with more free time and secondly because they might be more likely than others to be seeking answers to or meaning in their current situation.”

The idea we are in the end-times has grown so popular that Hollywood is cashing in with its own disaster flick called 2012. Directed by The Day After Tomorrow’s Roland Emmerich, it will be released here in July.

It stars John Cusack, Danny Glover and Thandie Newton and follows a researcher ­leading the fight against ­apocalyptic events predicted in the ancient Mayan ­calendar.

Among the British groups ­warning about the real 2012 is the DK Foundation.

Its followers fear the moon’s orbit is about to shift, causing the earth to be flooded – a process they liken to baptism.

They say only those who prepare themselves spiritually and move to a safe zone above 65 degrees north will survive.